There is an advantage to having a general design for an electronic component, such as a thyristor, or silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR), that allows for the same general design to be adapted for use in a wide variety of design applications. For example, spatial constraints within an overall integrated circuit layout can severely restrict a design choice for placement and layout of the thyristor device, thereby potentially adversely affecting desired performance characteristics thereof.
Additionally, it is generally very difficult to make a thyristor, or SCR, on a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate or platform. However, given the prevalence of SOI technologies, it would be advantageous to be able to form a thyristor device on an SOI wafer or substrate.